FAMILIES CONDEMN INSENSITIVE QUESTIONAIRE
Families condemn 'insensitive' questionaire
BY: ADRIAN MULLAN
SEVERAL families who lost relatives in the Omagh bomb have been horrified to receive Sperrin Lakeland Trust questionnaires addressed to those who died or were injured in the blast.
The questionnaires which, it was thought, would provide information about the needs of the community in the aftermath of the atrocity, have caused a storm, of protest and given offence to many of those who have suffered most.
One such questionnaire arrived at the home of Lawrence Rush, addressed to his wife Libby who perished in the blast. "I read some of the questions which asked whether you had been in Market Street at the time of the bomb, whether you had seen horrible things, such as limbs lying in the streets..I just felt physically sick", said Mr Rush.
He continued; "All that was left of Libby to bury was half her face and her shoulder blade, and I get a letter addressed to her asking disgusting questions about limbs lying on the street."
Godfrey Wilson, father of teenager Lorraine Wilson who also died in the bomb said he received such a questionnaire but could not bear to read it.
"There is enough in my heart that will hurt me for the rest of my life without having people poking and probing with a survey like this."
SURVEY
Chairman of the Omagh Self Help and Support Group, Michael Gallagher, whose son Adrian aged 21 also perished had not received the survey.
Michael Grimes, whose wife, daughter, grand daughter and unborn twins also died on that terrible day said the questionnaires should not have been sent to the people worst affected; "Anyone who lost someone or was injured was bound to be upset."
Bereaved families met with the Chief Executive of Sperrin Lakeland Trust, Hugh Mills, on Tuesday morning to seek and explanation for what had happened. Speaking after a meeting, Mr Michael Gallagher commented; "It is very sad the way things have worked out with Lawrence. I am sure it was not deliberate, just a mistake that happened."
Mr Gallagher did go on to question the wisdom of sending the questionnaires to bereaved families, and suggested that since the Sperrin Lakeland Trust already had a considerable amount of information about the victims it should not have needed to contact affected individuals again. "I'm not an expert but I don't know if it would be a worthwhile exercise to revisit the 15th of August."
It is understood that members of six of the families bereaved in the bomb attended the meeting and, Mr Rush walked out in disgust.
As Hugh Mills faced the press on Tuesday, he maintained that the study was important for the community and, expressing his regret that any hurt was caused, he defended the Trust's action in initiating the study.
Dr Kate Gillespie also fielded questions on behalf of the Trust and insisted that questions on explicit details relating to limbs and dead bodies were relevant. She further suggested that by answering these questions, respondents were in some cases addressing issues which they had suppressed.
Dr Gillespie said that after disasters such as that which occurred on August 15th it was often the case that people affected could not speak about what they had witnessed, even to close friends in the community. Furthermore, she said that people who were not injured sometimes felt that they had no entitlement to help.
The Sperrin Lakeland trust had earlier stated that it could not exclude the names of the bereaved .from the list because it would in some way have constituted a breach of confidentiality.
Pressed on this point, Mr Mills said that, had he deleted the names of the bereaved families before the mailing list was handed over to a private company, such an action would have 'flagged up' the fact that names were missing. He went on to say that the company may then have looked into the matter.
A statement issued by the Trust read; "The Trust's preferred option would have been to remove the bereaved families from the mailing list but it was advised that to do so would be a breach of confidentiality and in contravention of the data protection legislation."
It went on to say that the Trust had been given assurances that the names of those killed in the bomb would be removed from the mailing list of the company which distributed the questionnaire.
"While the Trust apologises for any hurt caused by this study, particularly to the bereaved families, it has been conducted in order to try and get a picture of the need that exists in the community", concluded the Trust spokesperson.
West Tyrone MP, William Thompson issued a statement referring to the matter in which he called on the trust to apologise to the individuals who suffered any upset.
"It is extremely unfortunate that a number of deceased relatives have received the recent questionnaire sent out to the general public by the Sperrin Lakeland Trust dealing with the aftermath of the Omagh bomb. It is obvious those names ought to have been extracted from the list before processing.
"These relatives have now been further distressed and traumatised by this unfortunate omission and the least the Trust can now do is give an individual apology to each of the relatives", said Mr Thompson.
BY: ADRIAN MULLAN
SEVERAL families who lost relatives in the Omagh bomb have been horrified to receive Sperrin Lakeland Trust questionnaires addressed to those who died or were injured in the blast.
The questionnaires which, it was thought, would provide information about the needs of the community in the aftermath of the atrocity, have caused a storm, of protest and given offence to many of those who have suffered most.
One such questionnaire arrived at the home of Lawrence Rush, addressed to his wife Libby who perished in the blast. "I read some of the questions which asked whether you had been in Market Street at the time of the bomb, whether you had seen horrible things, such as limbs lying in the streets..I just felt physically sick", said Mr Rush.
He continued; "All that was left of Libby to bury was half her face and her shoulder blade, and I get a letter addressed to her asking disgusting questions about limbs lying on the street."
Godfrey Wilson, father of teenager Lorraine Wilson who also died in the bomb said he received such a questionnaire but could not bear to read it.
"There is enough in my heart that will hurt me for the rest of my life without having people poking and probing with a survey like this."
SURVEY
Chairman of the Omagh Self Help and Support Group, Michael Gallagher, whose son Adrian aged 21 also perished had not received the survey.
Michael Grimes, whose wife, daughter, grand daughter and unborn twins also died on that terrible day said the questionnaires should not have been sent to the people worst affected; "Anyone who lost someone or was injured was bound to be upset."
Bereaved families met with the Chief Executive of Sperrin Lakeland Trust, Hugh Mills, on Tuesday morning to seek and explanation for what had happened. Speaking after a meeting, Mr Michael Gallagher commented; "It is very sad the way things have worked out with Lawrence. I am sure it was not deliberate, just a mistake that happened."
Mr Gallagher did go on to question the wisdom of sending the questionnaires to bereaved families, and suggested that since the Sperrin Lakeland Trust already had a considerable amount of information about the victims it should not have needed to contact affected individuals again. "I'm not an expert but I don't know if it would be a worthwhile exercise to revisit the 15th of August."
It is understood that members of six of the families bereaved in the bomb attended the meeting and, Mr Rush walked out in disgust.
As Hugh Mills faced the press on Tuesday, he maintained that the study was important for the community and, expressing his regret that any hurt was caused, he defended the Trust's action in initiating the study.
Dr Kate Gillespie also fielded questions on behalf of the Trust and insisted that questions on explicit details relating to limbs and dead bodies were relevant. She further suggested that by answering these questions, respondents were in some cases addressing issues which they had suppressed.
Dr Gillespie said that after disasters such as that which occurred on August 15th it was often the case that people affected could not speak about what they had witnessed, even to close friends in the community. Furthermore, she said that people who were not injured sometimes felt that they had no entitlement to help.
The Sperrin Lakeland trust had earlier stated that it could not exclude the names of the bereaved .from the list because it would in some way have constituted a breach of confidentiality.
Pressed on this point, Mr Mills said that, had he deleted the names of the bereaved families before the mailing list was handed over to a private company, such an action would have 'flagged up' the fact that names were missing. He went on to say that the company may then have looked into the matter.
A statement issued by the Trust read; "The Trust's preferred option would have been to remove the bereaved families from the mailing list but it was advised that to do so would be a breach of confidentiality and in contravention of the data protection legislation."
It went on to say that the Trust had been given assurances that the names of those killed in the bomb would be removed from the mailing list of the company which distributed the questionnaire.
"While the Trust apologises for any hurt caused by this study, particularly to the bereaved families, it has been conducted in order to try and get a picture of the need that exists in the community", concluded the Trust spokesperson.
West Tyrone MP, William Thompson issued a statement referring to the matter in which he called on the trust to apologise to the individuals who suffered any upset.
"It is extremely unfortunate that a number of deceased relatives have received the recent questionnaire sent out to the general public by the Sperrin Lakeland Trust dealing with the aftermath of the Omagh bomb. It is obvious those names ought to have been extracted from the list before processing.
"These relatives have now been further distressed and traumatised by this unfortunate omission and the least the Trust can now do is give an individual apology to each of the relatives", said Mr Thompson.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1235
Published Date: 25-Mar-99
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